What flavour gelato next?

Last night I went from one world to another.  Quite literally.  My sun set in Africa, and rose as we were flying over the Dolomites.  Thankfully Leanne was waiting for me in the transit lounge at Zurich airport (gosh, I really wasn't expecting Zurich to be such a hhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggeeee airport) but I kept up my end of the bargain and managed to buy some swiss chocolate in Switzerland.  Then we had the short flight to Rome and were able to ogle at the huge amount of snow on the swiss alps in the early morning sun, and in parts it looked absolutely spectacular as the snowy peaks jutted out above the cloud cover. 

I didn't sleep much, and at 5am when the first breakfast was served on the NBO-ZRH leg, I did wonder whey they put a piece of fried fish on top of the pot of yoghurt in the cardboard box and handed it to me as breakfast.  When I opened the box, I discovered that the fried fish was in fact a croissant - and I still don't and won't eat croissants.  Actually, at 5am I could barely manage a glass of water.

Anyway, we arrived in Rome and as we were making our way to find immigration, customs and then to collect our bags, we were obviously catching up on each other's news.  We were in yet another queue, for passports (and so we assumed it was immigration entry) and ended up having an enormous giggle when we discovered that we'd managed to join the queue of pax flying out of Rome to goodness knows where.  Deciding not to leave Rome when we hadn't finished actually arriving, we doubled back and eventually we both shut up long enough to find our bags and get out into the arrivals hall.

Sue & Roger were going to be meeting us at the Central Termini, so we made our way to the train station, bought tickets and jumped on to the train for the ride into downtown Rome.  We yakked all the way there, got off the train and waited.  Eventually we thought that perhaps they were waiting for us out near the taxis, so we made our way downstairs and, yep, waited.

To cut a long story short, they thought we were catching the bus from the airport into the Central Termini.  They were given a lift to the termini, but the person didn't know about the 'Airport Termini' part of the station.  (we did at first wonder why Rome's Central Termini was so quiet and deserted).  Anyway, after an hour, we all managed to meet up - introductions for Leanne and we got a taxi out to our amazing, unbelievable, Rome apartment which is now home for a week.  S&R are around the corner with friends.  So we can say we live at Vigna Clara, suburban Rome.

We got quickly settled into the apartment (that is, once the 4 of us made our way up the lift and then all tried to work out how the door card actually opened the apartment door) and then all met up for lunch at one of the cafes in the piazza downstairs.  An absolutely mouthwatering lunch and then we caught the bus "into town" (read we went to meet up with other friends at the Spanish Steps).

Leanne was trying not to fade too rapidly.  I just felt strange.  It's always great to be in Europe (I need more practice) but it was almost claustrophobic with cars, bikes and buildings everywhere, and all white people.  But we discovered the remedy to give us both second winds - while S&R went off to meet their friends, we headed down the Via del Corso.  We first HAD TO visit a gelato bar and have one each.  We detoured whenever an interesting side road looked good, and Leanne found that when she was emerging from a shop with her first European shopping bag swinging nicely from her hands, her tiredness at least temporarily evaporated!

The afternoon went quickly.  We all met up again and after finding out where to buy a weekly bus ticket and a Rome map, we made our way back to the bus stop.  Back at Vigna Clara, it was time for Leanne and I to meet Pat and her family before the 4 of us walked down to a local Pizzeria.  I will try not the describe each of our meals in any detail - suffice it to say that I think Italy will be a continuous gastronomic delight and some serious work will need to be done at a later stage!

No more gorgeous kid's photos, or animal shots.  The common theme though is that the sun is still shining!  It's a shame that photos this way aren't "scratch and smell".  Roasted chestnuts to me equal London in winter, not Rome in glorous sunshine with the seller trying for some shade under a brolly.

A shop window display.  Any idea what they are?  Most of you would use these on a daily basis ...

Leanne's proven jetlag tonic!

I love the Smart cars, but I didn't realise I'd find a car that makes a Smart car look big, nor a car that is smaller than a Vespa, but we did.  And on the back of the vehicle was the 'Turbo' badge but we couldn't find a make or model.  We'll keep looking!

At the Spanish Steps this afternoon.  For many years, the city had banned anyone from sitting on the steps, but today with Spring in the air, the sun shining, blue skies the steps were once again packed with mostly tourists and probably some locals, just like it used to be in Contiki days

Buona notte.  A piu tardi .....